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A movie screening, a teaching session and a news conference were among the daily events planned at the encampment as the protest movement entered Day 9 on McGill’s campus.
The encampment, comprised of dozens of tents, appeared more prepared to remain in place for the long term than it did when it began April 27.
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Protesters have adapted to the muddy conditions, creating walkways with wooden palettes and establishing a drainage system to keep them from being flooded out. Organizers say the protesters have everything they need to continue their encampment, including food, water, toilets, a library and a medical tent staffed with trained personnel. There are also community and prayer spaces and a “care tent” to offer quiet time or support for people with mental health concerns. Members of the local community have stepped up to offer three meals a day.
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“The best kind of learning the I’ve ever seen is in this encampment, where you have people who come with their own knowledge, ideas and perspectives and get to work together with people who might have slightly different perspectives, in order to do something about their convictions,” said Ted Rutland, an urban studies associate professor at Concordia University. “So this isn’t just about having a proper analysis of Israel-Palestine, it’s about coming together with a common project to bring an end to the violence and destruction that we’re seeing.”
Rutland is among 100 university professors around the city who have banded together to support the cause of those in the encampment. They have taken turns sleeping in the tents set up on the McGill lawn, where graduation ceremonies are traditionally held in June.
While roughly 100 people are sleeping in the tents, the encampment swells to several hundred supporters during the day.
“I am a student here, and as students, we have been involved with this movement for a very long time,” said a man known as Pompom, who is a first-year McGill Master’s student in law, and spoke for the group on Monday. “We as students want our tuition money to go toward services that are supposed to be protecting us on campus and supporting us throughout our studies, instead of funding companies like Lockheed Martin and Bombardier that are manufacturing weapons (and other equipment) to arm Israel.
“I’m Yemeni-Ethiopian, so I know about genocide, because it happened in both countries. I know about displacement and conflict and war,” he said. “As an individual, this is the least I can do to help my people who are in the region. Palestinians, Yemeni, they’re all the same. We have faced the same struggles, the same economic sanctions from the West and constant embargoes.”
Montreal police are keeping the site under surveillance, but have made it clear any intervention will be contingent on the safety of the public or the demonstrators being threatened.
Quebec Premier François Legault last week called for the camp to be dismantled. McGill University’s administration has offered to meet with the protesters to discuss their demands on the condition they abandon the encampment, an offer protesters have refused.
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